Tritium distillation device

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides a novel tritium distillation device, which comprises a container, a radiator covered on top of the container with a protrusion at the bottom, a conduit penetrating the container with an inlet and an outlet, the inlet being arranged in correspondence with the protrusion, and a heating device fixed below the container. The method of operating the tritium distillation includes the steps of adding environmental tritium in the container, covering the radiator on top of the container closely, heating environmental tritium to cause tritium steam to be condensed to the bottom of the radiator, and collecting the tritium condensation dropped from the protrusion with conduit. The present invention uses a simple structure to ease assembly and reduce the cost of cooling water source.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention is related to a distillation device especially toa tritium distillation device, and it is applicable to purifyenvironmental tritium water and monitor the content of tritium water inthe environment.

2. Prior Art

The resources of environment tritium are produced mainly from cosmicrays, nucleon bomb test, and nuclear reactor during operation. Theanalysis of the tritium in the environmental water nearby nuclearfacility is one of important surveillance objects. In traditionaltritium water analysis method, it heats up the environmental water in adistillation flask to produce vapor and cools it to liquid tritiumthrough condensation tube and then collects that liquid tritium foranalyzing the content of tritium. However, the traditional distillationdevice is far more complicated due to that the condensation tube needslarge quantity of water for cooling, thus the consumption of waterresource will be increased. Yet the traditional distillation device usedunstable heat source alcohol lamp, the distillation time can not beproperly controlled when there comes a breeze. To solve the problems ofthe traditional tritium distillation device, the main function of atritium distillation device should include sample heating, vaporcondensation, and sample collection. For avoiding over heating, athermometer maybe provided to monitor temperature. And the heating platecan be changed according to the heating method adopted. The shape ofcontainer has been altered from round bottom flask to flat bottomcontainer for safer placement, and the flask mouth is enlarged foreasily adding sample and cleaning afterwards to reduce pollution. In thepart of vapor cooling, the glass condenser tube has been changed from awater-cooled type to an air-cooled type having plurality of metal bladeto strengthen the effect of the heat sink. The bottom of the metalradiator was formed in taper shape thus the condensed vapor can beconcentrated at the cusp of the taper shape and drips in the collectingtube of the container. There is a cylindrical cavity on the metalradiator to add water in to avoid overheating. The simplified assemblyrequires only two parts (excluding sample collecting bottle or flask),however, the traditional method requires four parts or more. Since thecleaning problem can be resolved with the present invention, thepollution is avoided and the analysis quality is thus improved. Thetritium distillation device of the present invention not only overcomethe flaws of traditional tritium distillation device, but also provideadvantages of quick assembly, reduction of water consumption, stabilityof heat source, and improve the quality of analysis with easiness ofcleaning.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One object of the present invention is to provide a tritium distillationdevice with a simple structure to ease assembly.

Another object of the invention is to provide a tritium distillationdevice without condenser tube thus the cost of cooling water consumptioncan be decreased.

The other object of the invention is to provide a tritium distillationdevice, which uses a heating plate in distillation and offers a morestable heat source than traditional alcohol lamp. Therefore, the time ofdistillation is easy to be controlled and the workable amount ofdistillation is increased.

The present invention provides a tritium distillation device comprisinga container, a radiator equipped on the top of container with aprotrusion at the bottom of it, a conduit penetrating the container witha inlet and an outlet, the inlet being arranged in correspondence withthe protrusion, and a heating device fixed below the container. Thesteps of operating the tritium distillation device comprising adding theenvironmental tritium in the container, covering the radiator up on thecontainer closely, heating environmental tritium to cause the tritiumvapor condensation gathered at the bottom of the radiator, andcollecting the tritium condensation dropped from the protrusion withconduit; and there is a hollow cylindrical cavity furnished on the metalradiator for containing water for indication of when the radiator beingoverheated.

The present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art byreading the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof,with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a tritium distillation device of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the tritium distillation device of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 is a explode view of a radiator of the tritium distillationdevice of the present invention;

FIG. 3A is an enlarged view of portion A shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 4 is a side view of another embodiment of the present invention;and

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing steps of operating the tritiumdistillation device of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

With reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, wherein a tritium distillationdevice of the present invention is shown, including a container 1, aradiator 2 fixed up on the container 1 with a protrusion at the bottom,a conduit 3 penetrating the container 1 with an inlet 31 and an outlet32, the inlet 31 being arranged in correspondence with the protrusion21, and a heating device 4 fixed below the container 1.

The container 1 herein is a cylinder made of the material of glass; theradiator 2 is a disc type with a cylindrical cavity 23 furnished atcenter of the radiator 2 with at least one heat sink blade 22, and thecylindrical cavity 23 linking to the heat sink blade 22 is a hollowcylindrical cavity to contain water for a simple overheating indication.The water in the cylindrical cavity 23 will evaporate only a smallamount during normal operation, while in a overheating situation, thewater will evaporate much quicker. The heat sink blade 22 is designed ina S curve shape to maximize its heat sink area. The radiator 2 has ataper bottom 26 with a protrusion 21 furnished at center as a cusp; acollecting bottle 6 arranged in correspondence with the outlet 32 isused to collect the distilled environmental tritium; the heating device4 is a heating plate or a heating pack.

Referring to FIG. 3 and FIG. 3A, the circular slot 24 is provided aroundthe bottom 26 of the radiator 2 and furnished with a heat insulatingelastic cushion made of rubber. The heat insulating elastic cushion 25is a skid proof airtight type cushion for mating together the radiator 2and the container 1 tightly to prevent sliding and avoid vapor leakingand also prevent the heat of the container 1 from conducting to theradiator 2 to maintain the efficiency of radiation. The radiator can bemade of metal or glass and the metal is preferable.

Referring to FIG. 4, a cooling liquid container 5 filled with ice 51maybe placed on the top of the radiator 2 to accelerate the condensationof tritium vapor.

Referring to FIG. 4, the present invention tritium distillation deviceis used to evaporate the tritium contained in the environmental tritium12 and condense at the bottom of the radiator 2, and the condensedtritium is collected from the protrusion 21 by gravity to drip in theconduit 3 and being collected in collecting bottle 6.

The steps of operating the tritium distillation device of the presentinvention referring to FIG. 5 include:

Step 1. Put the environmental tritium in a container;Step 2. Cover the radiator on the container closely;Step 3. Heat the environmental tritium and condense the tritium vapor atthe bottom of the radiator to be collected on the protrusion of thebottom of the radiator;Step 4. Use a conduit to collect the condensed tritium liquid drippingfrom the protrusion.

And there is another step of filtering the environmental tritium beforethe step 1.

For the foregoing description, the present invention tritiumdistillation has a simple structure for easily assembling, no condensertube required, and the cost of cooling water source would be reduced.The heat source for distillation using a heating plate or pack is morestable than traditional alcohol lamp, and the distillation time isbetter controlled.

One skilled in the art can easily ascertain the essentialcharacteristics of this invention, and without departing from the spiritand scope thereof, can make various changes and modifications of theinvention to adapt it to various usages and conditions.

1. A tritium distillation device comprising: a container; a radiatorcovering on the container with a protrusion at the bottom; a conduitpenetrating the container with an inlet and an outlet, the inletarranged in correspondence with the protrusion, and; a heating deviceinstalled below the container.
 2. A tritium distillation deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein the container is a cylindrical shape.
 3. Atritium distillation device according to claim 1, wherein the containeris made of glass.
 4. A tritium distillation device according to claim 1,wherein the radiator is a disc type radiator with at least one heat sinkblade.
 5. A tritium distillation device according to claim 4, whereinthe radiator has a hollow cylindrical cavity at center linked to theheat sink blade.
 6. A tritium distillation device according to claim 4,wherein the heat sink blade is a curved heat sink blade.
 7. A tritiumdistillation device according to claim 4, wherein the bottom of the disctype radiator is furnished with a circular groove around itself.
 8. Atritium distillation device according to claim 7, wherein the circulargroove with a heat insulating elastic cushion inside.
 9. A tritiumdistillation device according to claim 8, wherein the heat insulatingelastic cushion is made of rubber.
 10. A tritium distillation deviceaccording to claim 8, wherein heat insulating elastic cushion is a skidproof airtight cushion.
 11. A tritium distillation device according toclaim 1, wherein the radiator is made of metal or glass.
 12. A tritiumdistillation device according to claim 11, wherein the preferablematerial is metal.
 13. A tritium distillation device according to claim1, further including a condensed liquid container placed on top of theradiator.
 14. A tritium distillation device according to claim 13,wherein the condensed liquid in the container is ice water.
 15. Atritium distillation device according to claim 1, wherein the bottom ofthe radiator is a taper bottom.
 16. A tritium distillation deviceaccording to claim 15, wherein the taper bottom is furnished with aprotrusion at center.
 17. A tritium distillation device according toclaim 1, wherein the protrusion is a cusp.
 18. A tritium distillationdevice according to claim 1, wherein a collecting bottle is arranged incorrespondence with the outlet.
 19. A tritium distillation deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein the heating device is a heating plate or aheating pack.
 20. A tritium distillation device according to claim 1,wherein the radiator is hermetically in contact with the container.